Vodafone and Google deepen partnership with R10bn deal
Google - Vodafone Logo
Vodafone and Google have announced a ten year strategic expansion of their existing partnership to bring new services, devices, and TV experiences to millions of the operators customers across Europe and Africa, supported by Google Cloud and Google’s Gemini models.
The agreement will bring storage, security, and AI assistance to Vodafone’s customers in 15 countries, as well as its partners in an additional 45 markets worldwide.
AI powered content
Margherita Della Valle, Vodafone Group chief executive, said Vodafone and Google will put new AI-powered content and devices into the hands of millions of more consumers.
“Using these services, our customers can discover new ways to learn, create and communicate, as well as consume TV, on a scale we haven’t seen before.”
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet said the expanded partnership with Vodafone will help bring the search giants most advanced AI products and services, including our Gemini models, to more people across Europe and Africa.
“I’m excited to see how Vodafone’s consumers, small businesses and governments, will use generative AI and Google Cloud to transform the way they work and access information.”
Key focus
A key focus of the Vodafone and Google partnership is to help consumers take advantage of the latest hardware and digital technologies, including AI and cloud-based applications.
Google and Vodafone are working towards enabling Vodafone to offer YouTube subscription-based products and Google One subscription plans, such as storage plans and AI Premium plans to consumers, in addition to offering a range of Pixel and other Android devices.
The duo are also working towards enhancing Vodafone TV (which is powered by Android TV), using Google Cloud’s advanced gen AI capabilities to provide additional content discovery features, rewards, and offers, as well as content monetization with Google Ad Manager to deliver a better ads experience.
Collaboration
The teams are also exploring a more deeply-integrated YouTube experience across Vodafone TV devices.
Vodafone and Google Cloud already have a strong track record of collaboration. The companies have worked together to create a data repository (data lake) that houses Vodafone’s data and its existing AI and data analytics services on Google Cloud to ensure maximum security and adherence to legal requirements.
Both companies intend to jointly promote the use of universal industry standards in areas such as online safety, responsible AI development, network performance, and interoperability to drive economies of scale in industrial efficiency, boost innovation, and improve public services at scale.
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